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Managerial Necessity and the Art of Creating Surpluses: The Budget‐Execution Process in West Virginia Cities
Author(s) -
Dougherty Michael John,
Klase Kenneth A.,
Song Soo Geun
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
public administration review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.721
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1540-6210
pISSN - 0033-3352
DOI - 10.1111/1540-6210.00310
Subject(s) - budget process , discretion , process (computing) , government (linguistics) , economics , capital budgeting , business , capital expenditure , government budget , finance , macroeconomics , public finance , political science , computer science , debt , linguistics , philosophy , politics , law , operating system
Budget execution traditionally has been defined as a straightforward process of implementing the budget as approved. Research into the process has been limited, particularly with regard to local government budgets. This article examines the rebudgeting process using a case study of 15 West Virginia cities. Rebudgeting displayed a consistent pattern for the various budget categories—personnel, contracts, commodities, capital, and contributions—closely resembling the “increase‐then‐decrease” pattern seen in the overall budget. Empirical data on budgetary adjustments and structured interviews with city finance officials helped to describe budget changes and explain probable causes and effects of behavior during budget execution for these smaller cities. Budget changes were found to be the result of managerial necessity and the exercise of discretion to generate and distribute surpluses.